Our Story

Hello - we’re Janine and Bruce from Rattle Ya Dags, and we live on a lifestyle block in the Tararua.

For the past 10 years, we’ve run a portable crutching trailer, travelling across sheep farms in Tararua, Central Hawke’s Bay, and Manawatū.

About five years ago, Janine started experimenting with dags in her own garden, pots, and planters. She quickly discovered their magic – they held onto moisture, kept the weeds down, and the plants absolutely thrived.

But on farm, it was a different story. Fadges and fadges of dags were being dumped over banks, wasted because there was no market for them.

At the same time, many farmers were frustrated – not only was there little demand for coarse wool, but none at all for dags.

Janine also realised there were plenty of Kiwi gardeners who would happily use dags in their gardens – just like farming families have done for yonks – but most had no way of getting them.

So, she decided to do something about it. Rattle Ya Dags was born to give new life to a wasted resource, creating a bridge between New Zealand’s sheep farmers and gardeners.

Today, Rattle Ya Dags purchases mature, dry dags (perfect for the garden) from sheep farmers and transforms them into a user-friendly mulch that is 100% sustainable and 100% biodegradable. It’s good for the soil, good for the plants, and good for our sheep farmers.